Hands On With the Apple Watch Series 9, Ultra 2: Putting Double Tap to the Test

pcmag.com:

CUPERTINO—Alongside the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2, Apple introduced a brand new way to interact with your smartwatch, and it's more than just a gimmick. 

The new double tap gesture lets you perform various actions—such as opening your Smart Stack, answering and ending calls, and starting and stopping timers—by quickly tapping your pointer finger and thumb together twice. After trying it out for myself, I'm pretty sure double tap is a gesture I'll end up using all the time. 

The heart of the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the new S9 SiP, which Apple describes as its "most powerful watch chip yet." It enables the double tap gesture along with several other new features and improvements, including on-device Siri processing and a significant increase in maximum screen brightness without a reduction in battery life.

Apple is also touting the environmental-friendliness of its new smartwatch lineup as its first-ever carbon-neutral products. The Cupertino tech giant aims to make every product carbon neutral by 2030 and took a big step towards that goal this week. Notably, the Ultra Watch 2 case is made from 95% recycled titanium, whereas the original featured all-virgin titanium.

Following the Wonderlust presentation, attendees at the Apple Event, myself included, filed into a large demo room where we could try out all the new Apple Watch and iPhone 15 models to test their key features. Keep reading for my first impressions.

Samsung this year doubled the maximum screen brightness of its Galaxy Watch 6 smartwatch to 2,000 nits to improve outdoor visibility, matching that of the original Apple Watch Ultra. 

Now, Apple has done the same for the Series 9 display, which doubles from 1,000